About Us
About SJCMS
OUR MISSIONS
To present chamber music concerts in San Jose performed by top ensembles from the Bay Area, across America, and around the world.
To enrich our audience experience through post-concert Q&As, program notes, and meet-the-composer opportunities.
To educate
students in chamber music by presenting outreach at San Jose public
schools, and by residency activities for San Jose State University
music majors.
To support chamber
music in our region by publicizing other nearby chamber music concerts,
by cooperating in marketing with fellow presenters, and by joint
programs with The Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies at San
José State University.
OUR 36-YEAR HISTORY — A STORY TO CELEBRATE!
In 1986 Lawrence Bryan and friends founded SJCMS so
that South Bay audiences could enjoy a quality professional chamber
music concert series here in San Jose. All concerts were presented in
First Unitarian Church downtown until 1993, when our audience outgrew
the rotunda’s capacity. From 1994 on, all of our concerts were held in
the acclaimed 318-seat Trianon Theatre — until May 2019 when Trianon
was sold and ceased being a concert hall. For 2019-20 we relocated our
series close by to the Concert Hall at the San Jose State University
School of Music and Dance, until Covid-19 orders closed the campus in
March 2020. As we re-start, we now invite you, our loyal audience,
to enjoy our 22-23 season concerts in our resonant new home in the
Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose - St. Francis Episcopal
Church, at 1205 Pine Avenue (at Newport), San Jose 95125.
You can download the current and previous years' brochures here:
EDUCATION
We provide music appreciation, experience and
education. Audiences attending our concerts receive pre-concert talks,
informative program notes and frequent post-concert discussions with
the artists.
Each season we teach chamber music appreciation to the students of several public schools in San Jose
by engaging some of our professional chamber music ensembles to present discuss-demonstrate-and-perform
programs for assembled classes -- presentations which delight students and receive teacher praise.
We also enable our concert performing ensembles to do residency activities for San Jose State University music majors when we can.
VOLUNTEERS
DONATIONS
Ticket sales cover less than 50% of our concert expenses. Your tax-deductible contribution to the San
Jose Chamber Music Society is greatly appreciated and helps ensure that you and your community
will continue to enjoy educational programs and concerts of the highest
quality.
As a donor, you will be listed (if you wish) in each program booklet of
the season. Additional benefits are available for corporate
sponsors. Contact SJCMS for more information on individual and
corporate donations. You can also include a donation with your ticket
order.
Some employers will match your donation to a non-profit organization.
Please check with your company to find out if you can double your
gift to SJCMS. Thank you for your patronage and support.
SJCMS is supported in part by an Operating Grant from Silicon
Valley Creates and by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San
José. We welcome business donations and referrals.
SOUTH BAY AREA MUSICAL COMMUNITY
The San Jose Chamber Music Society actively works with
other arts organizations by regularly listing chamber music
performances of South Bay area musical organizations in our programs,
by co-sponsoring concerts (such as with the Ira F. Brilliant Center for
Beethoven Studies), and by cooperating in marketing with fellow presenters.
San Jose Chamber Music Society is a long-standing member of the Silicon Valley Arts
Coalition visit the SVAC website at www.artssiliconvalley.org.
